Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Chapter Seven
Chapter Wordcount: 2384
“Tareena…”
“Hey babe!”
“Can you…god…”
“Jensen?” she asked, freezing where she stood, fear slicing through her gut. “Jensen what’s wrong?”
“Can you come to Vancouver?” he mumbled, voice soft and broken.
“Are you okay? Dude, you’re scaring me.”
“Just…please come.”
“Yea, Jen…I, tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m fine…sort of,” he mumbled and just the way his voice sounded had her already running to her bedroom to throw together a duffle bag.
“Babe you’re freaking me out.”
“It’s okay,” he said and she knew he was lying.
“Jensen, you know I need you to get the tickets,” she said softly, not sure what was going on.
“Yea, I know, I’ll email you them, okay?”
“Yea, sure babe, just lemme know, I’ll be there.”
“Thanks baby girl,” he said softly before the phone clicked and he was gone.
She stared at the screen, blinking timestamp flashing in her face to tell her that the call had been disconnected and she hit the speed dial number for Jared.
“He called you didn’t he?” Jared asked as soon as he picked up the phone.
“What the hell is going on?” she rushed, wincing when her voice broke.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No! He just…he asked me to come and god, his voice…Jared…”
“Look, I wish I could tell you, but this is his deal, his business…”
“I swear to god Jared if something happened and you’re not fucking telling me…”
“He’s fine, it’s nothing like that. It’s not life threatening or anything.”
“Promise me,” she whispered.
“I promise. You know you’re the first person I’d call after his family if anything ever happened to him. It’s just…it’s some bullshit and look, I really would tell you but this is his problem and I don’t wanna go stepping over any lines. But he’s okay, I swear, he just needs a friend right now. And I’m trying but well…I’m hardly somebody he can curl up on the couch with and cry.”
“God, Jared,” she said softly, collapsing on the end of her bed, t-shirt she had just yanked off the hanger in hand.
“He’s okay Tareena, he just needs us right now. If he didn’t call you I was going to. Do you know when your flight is yet?”
“No, he said he was going to email me the tickets.”
“Okay, call me when you get ‘em and lemme know. I’ll pick you up from the airport.”
“’Kay,” she said softly.
“He’s fine, I promise.”
“Thanks Jared.”
“No problem sweetie. Call me when you get the tickets.”
“’Kay,” she mumbled. “Bye.”
“Bye hun.”
“God,” she sighed, breaking into a run when she spotted Jared across the terminal.
“Hey babe,” he said quietly, letting her launch herself into his arms.
“Tell me he’s okay,” she whispered against his shoulder.
“He’s fine, he’ll be even better now that you’re here,” he mumbled into her hair, pulling back to take her bag. “You need to go to bag claim?”
“No, I just have the one, kinda freaked and packed quick,” she smirked.
He smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and lead them back towards the garage.
“You gonna come in?” she asked as Jared put his truck in park outside Jensen’s apartment.
“Naw, call me in the morning though okay?”
“Sure,” she smiled, leaning over to hug him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No need to thank me babe.”
She smiled sadly, “I’ll call you” she said, stepping out and waving as he drove off.
“Jensen?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
“Tareena?” he asked appearing from somewhere down the hall.
He was a wreck. Three days worth of stubble, hair a mess. T-shirt so worn out there were small holes in the collar. He obviously had holed himself up in his apartment over the weekend.
“Hey,” she said softly, dropping her bag as he came right for her and crushed her in a hug, burying his face in her shoulder.
“Thank you,” he whispered, voice breaking.
“Don’t you dare, but you better tell me what the hell’s going on,” she pulled back, cupping his face in her hands to stare at him, her eyes glazing over with tears.
He forced a grin and reached up to take her hands in his, pulling her over towards the couch.
“You want something to drink?” he asked, like he didn’t want to sit down and tell her.
“Jensen,” she sighed, pushing at his chest until he collapsed onto the couch. She sat down on the edge of the coffee table across from him. “Tell me now or I swear to god I’m gonna kick your ass,” she smiled sadly.
“She broke up with me,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“I went back to LA Friday night, thought I’d surprise her for the long weekend.”
He was staring at his hands, fidgeting nervously and she reached forward, lacing her fingers in his.
“I was headed to get a coffee and she…she was at this café with some guy. But you know, whatever,” he smiled sadly, “And I went up to surprise her, and she got this look on her face…and the guy, I swear the guy was going to shit himself…”
He sighed, looking up at her for a split second before back down at the floor and she squeezed his hands softly to get him to continue.
“She got all flustered and brushed off the guy, yanked me down the road and pulled me into a corner and told me that she couldn’t handle it anymore. Handle the long distance thing, that she needed more than that,” he laughed cynically. “Said she had been planning on calling me.”
Tareena closed her eyes, shaking her head, before sighing and looking back up at him again.
“I tried,” he said, voice breaking. “I tried so hard, I flew back whenever I got the chance, called her everyday, I thought…I thought we were okay,” he said quietly “And she just…she just ended it right there, on the side of the friggin’ road, turned around and walked back to the other guy and…and left.”
He looked back up at her, eyes lit with tears and she broke down, pulling him forward, arms wrapping around him, cradling his head against her shoulder as he cried, fingers dug into her shirt.
He pulled back, scrubbing a hand across his cheek when he heard her sniffle against him.
“Oh come on,” he grinned, “Don’t you start crying.”
“Shut up,” she smiled back, “I can barely stand to see you crying on the damn TV.”
He laughed, resting his forehead against hers and sighed, knees pressed together, her fingers carding through the short hair at the back of his neck.
“You eat today?” she asked quietly, causing him to open his eyes to look at her, her blue-grey irises shining like silver under the sheen of tears.
“Not really,” he smirked. “Don’t really have anything here either.”
“Will you be okay if I run to the store?” she asked, voice soft but worry threaded through her tone.
He smiled slowly at her, eyes dancing between hers. “Yea, I’ll be fine baby girl.”
She grinned, hand coming up to cup his jaw when he kissed the tip of her nose.
“Where’s your wallet?”
“On my dresser,” he said, finally pulling himself back from the protective circle of her arms, letting her get up to go down the hall and retrieve it.
“Thanks,” he said softly as she opened the door to leave.
“You don’t need to thank me for a damn thing Jensen,” she smiled, keys to his truck jingling around her fingers. “I’ll be right back.”
She pulled out a two pack of thick cut beautifully marbled steak. Plastic wrap catching against the grocery bag as she placed it down next to the sink. Canister of seasoning shaking as she took it out of the bag and sat it down next to the meat.
Jensen grinned, pulling out a box of macaroni and cheese, hard pasta rattling around inside and shot her a look.
He grabbed the smaller bag on the counter, opaque white instead of the recycled tan of the grocery store bags and pulled out a handful of DVDs.
“’The Longest Yard’?” he asked, holding up the first DVD, arching his brow at her as she cut open the plastic on the steak.
“Hell yea,” she grinned. “Good music, football, prison inmates, violence, all wrapped up with a nice little moral at the end of the story.”
“And what would that be?” he grinned.
Her mouth opened and she paused. “I don’t remember,” she laughed, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.”
He laughed.
“So, steaks and a football players in prison movie?”
She looked up from where she was seasoning the steaks.
“Well…” she paused, “I could go back and get a tub of Haagen-Dazs and ‘The Notebook’ if you want. But I figured, you know, since you have testicles and everything, that bloody meat and some violence was more appropriate.”
He smirked, looking away for a minute.
“Hell, even I don’t do chick flicks and ice cream,” she winked, smiling at him when he grinned back.
“Thanks,” he said softly, stepping forward to kiss her forehead.
She jabbed her elbow into his stomach playfully. “What did I tell you about thanking me?” she asked, the spark in her eyes silently telling him ‘you’re welcome.’
“Alright,” he mumbled, slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Fire up the grill for me?” she asked.
“Sure,” he grinned, pulling her into a one armed hug to kiss her temple before walking out to the patio.
Jensen groaned, stretched out of the couch with Tareena curled up next to him, empty plates smeared with grease and cheese pushed off to the side of the coffee table, a couple of half drunk beers long gone warm sitting next to them.
Her hand idly swept back and forth across his chest and his eyes closed, muscles relaxing.
“Can I kill her?” she asked softly, glancing up to see him open his eyes to look at her.
“No,” he laughed softly.
“Please?”
He rolled his eyes, “I might be loaded but I don’t have enough to get you out of a murder rap.”
“Damnit,” she said, grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
He chuckled, vibration in his chest rumbling straight into her.
“You know I would if you asked me?” she said, looking back up at him.
“Don’t doubt it,” he grinned, squeezing her shoulder, cheek resting against her hair.
“I just…” he started to say, mouth closing as he heaved a sigh. “I’m just sick of being alone,” he said softly. “I can count the number of serious relationships I’ve had on one hand.”
Tareena planted her hand on his chest and pushed herself up to look at him.
“Shut up.”
“What?” he asked, pushing himself up with his elbows.
“I don’t wanna hear that crap from you. If there’s anybody on this godforsaken planet that’s gonna end up with somebody it’s you.”
He rolled his eyes, throwing one arm behind his head.
“Then why am I still alone?” he asked. “I thought...” he sighed again. “I thought she might have been it, ya know?” he said quietly.
“She’s a bitch,” she said, holding her hand up when Jensen’s eyes shot to her, ready to say something back. “But you loved her…and if she was stupid enough to walk away from that, then she doesn’t deserve you.
“But I’m not gonna sit here and tell you to get over it ‘cause she’s not worth it. Bottom line is you loved her, maybe still do and I’m not about to belittle that,” she said, watching as he swallowed hard.
“All my crazy fangirlness aside,” she said, grinning when he smirked at her, “You’re one of the greatest guys I know,” she said softly. “And the only reason I say ‘one of’ is ‘cause my Dad’s pretty high up there too,” she smiled sadly.
Jensen’s lips tightened to a line and he swallowed again at the honestly in her eyes.
“Trust me, you’ll find somebody,” she said softly.
He forced a smirk, staring at their hands as he threaded his fingers back with hers.
“Thanks babe.”
“No problem,” she grinned.
His hand automatically tightened around hers when he felt her shift to get up.
“The movie’s over,” she grinned, laughing at him when he grunted and let her go.
She rolled off the couch, landing on her knees on the carpet before getting up to switch DVDs, popping in ‘The Blue Collar Comedy Tour,’ and taking their plates to the sink, running water over them before coming back to the couch.
Jensen had turned on his side, back against the back of the couch, cushions scrunched under his head.
She smirked at him, dropping her knee into the cushion and lying down beside him, back pressed against his chest, fingers linking with his when he draped his arm over her chest.
She felt him bury his nose against her neck about an hour later and squeezed his hand.
“Why don’t you head to bed babe?” she asked softly, grabbing the remote and turning down the volume on the TV.
“Will you stay?” he said quietly, causing her to turn to look at him.
“I just…I kinda don’t wanna be alone,” he mumbled.
“Well I didn’t get a hotel room, so yea, I was kinda planning on staying,” she said, voice soft as she grinned at him.
He smirked but tightened his arm around her waist.
“I meant stay,” he whispered, meeting her eyes again.
She stared at him a moment, the light from the TV dancing across his face, throwing shadows and soft blue light over the room.
“Sure,” she whispered, fingers squeezing in his.
He smiled softly, shifting against her so his head rested in the crook of her neck and her stomach seized, heart thudding painfully in her chest, wishing against anything that she could just see that bitch that did this to him right now just to throw a fist in her face.
Her hand came up, fingers dancing through his hair and he sighed against her.
She smiled, reaching up to slip his glasses off, smirking at him when he opened his eyes to smile at her.
Chapter Notes:
The Longest Yard rocks...the end. It might be blashphemy but I've never actually seen the original *hides* but I adore the remake
And steaks are meant to be cooked on the grill, no where else! *proudly holds up her grill tongs!*
Blue Collar Comedy Tour...the trilogy, dude, if you haven't seen them...GO RENT THEM...NOW!!! Ron White and Big Engvall are TEH SHIT
Previous: Chapter Six | Next: Chapter Eight
Chapter Seven
Chapter Wordcount: 2384
“Tareena…”
“Hey babe!”
“Can you…god…”
“Jensen?” she asked, freezing where she stood, fear slicing through her gut. “Jensen what’s wrong?”
“Can you come to Vancouver?” he mumbled, voice soft and broken.
“Are you okay? Dude, you’re scaring me.”
“Just…please come.”
“Yea, Jen…I, tell me you’re okay.”
“I’m fine…sort of,” he mumbled and just the way his voice sounded had her already running to her bedroom to throw together a duffle bag.
“Babe you’re freaking me out.”
“It’s okay,” he said and she knew he was lying.
“Jensen, you know I need you to get the tickets,” she said softly, not sure what was going on.
“Yea, I know, I’ll email you them, okay?”
“Yea, sure babe, just lemme know, I’ll be there.”
“Thanks baby girl,” he said softly before the phone clicked and he was gone.
She stared at the screen, blinking timestamp flashing in her face to tell her that the call had been disconnected and she hit the speed dial number for Jared.
“He called you didn’t he?” Jared asked as soon as he picked up the phone.
“What the hell is going on?” she rushed, wincing when her voice broke.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No! He just…he asked me to come and god, his voice…Jared…”
“Look, I wish I could tell you, but this is his deal, his business…”
“I swear to god Jared if something happened and you’re not fucking telling me…”
“He’s fine, it’s nothing like that. It’s not life threatening or anything.”
“Promise me,” she whispered.
“I promise. You know you’re the first person I’d call after his family if anything ever happened to him. It’s just…it’s some bullshit and look, I really would tell you but this is his problem and I don’t wanna go stepping over any lines. But he’s okay, I swear, he just needs a friend right now. And I’m trying but well…I’m hardly somebody he can curl up on the couch with and cry.”
“God, Jared,” she said softly, collapsing on the end of her bed, t-shirt she had just yanked off the hanger in hand.
“He’s okay Tareena, he just needs us right now. If he didn’t call you I was going to. Do you know when your flight is yet?”
“No, he said he was going to email me the tickets.”
“Okay, call me when you get ‘em and lemme know. I’ll pick you up from the airport.”
“’Kay,” she said softly.
“He’s fine, I promise.”
“Thanks Jared.”
“No problem sweetie. Call me when you get the tickets.”
“’Kay,” she mumbled. “Bye.”
“Bye hun.”
“God,” she sighed, breaking into a run when she spotted Jared across the terminal.
“Hey babe,” he said quietly, letting her launch herself into his arms.
“Tell me he’s okay,” she whispered against his shoulder.
“He’s fine, he’ll be even better now that you’re here,” he mumbled into her hair, pulling back to take her bag. “You need to go to bag claim?”
“No, I just have the one, kinda freaked and packed quick,” she smirked.
He smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and lead them back towards the garage.
“You gonna come in?” she asked as Jared put his truck in park outside Jensen’s apartment.
“Naw, call me in the morning though okay?”
“Sure,” she smiled, leaning over to hug him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No need to thank me babe.”
She smiled sadly, “I’ll call you” she said, stepping out and waving as he drove off.
“Jensen?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
“Tareena?” he asked appearing from somewhere down the hall.
He was a wreck. Three days worth of stubble, hair a mess. T-shirt so worn out there were small holes in the collar. He obviously had holed himself up in his apartment over the weekend.
“Hey,” she said softly, dropping her bag as he came right for her and crushed her in a hug, burying his face in her shoulder.
“Thank you,” he whispered, voice breaking.
“Don’t you dare, but you better tell me what the hell’s going on,” she pulled back, cupping his face in her hands to stare at him, her eyes glazing over with tears.
He forced a grin and reached up to take her hands in his, pulling her over towards the couch.
“You want something to drink?” he asked, like he didn’t want to sit down and tell her.
“Jensen,” she sighed, pushing at his chest until he collapsed onto the couch. She sat down on the edge of the coffee table across from him. “Tell me now or I swear to god I’m gonna kick your ass,” she smiled sadly.
“She broke up with me,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“I went back to LA Friday night, thought I’d surprise her for the long weekend.”
He was staring at his hands, fidgeting nervously and she reached forward, lacing her fingers in his.
“I was headed to get a coffee and she…she was at this café with some guy. But you know, whatever,” he smiled sadly, “And I went up to surprise her, and she got this look on her face…and the guy, I swear the guy was going to shit himself…”
He sighed, looking up at her for a split second before back down at the floor and she squeezed his hands softly to get him to continue.
“She got all flustered and brushed off the guy, yanked me down the road and pulled me into a corner and told me that she couldn’t handle it anymore. Handle the long distance thing, that she needed more than that,” he laughed cynically. “Said she had been planning on calling me.”
Tareena closed her eyes, shaking her head, before sighing and looking back up at him again.
“I tried,” he said, voice breaking. “I tried so hard, I flew back whenever I got the chance, called her everyday, I thought…I thought we were okay,” he said quietly “And she just…she just ended it right there, on the side of the friggin’ road, turned around and walked back to the other guy and…and left.”
He looked back up at her, eyes lit with tears and she broke down, pulling him forward, arms wrapping around him, cradling his head against her shoulder as he cried, fingers dug into her shirt.
He pulled back, scrubbing a hand across his cheek when he heard her sniffle against him.
“Oh come on,” he grinned, “Don’t you start crying.”
“Shut up,” she smiled back, “I can barely stand to see you crying on the damn TV.”
He laughed, resting his forehead against hers and sighed, knees pressed together, her fingers carding through the short hair at the back of his neck.
“You eat today?” she asked quietly, causing him to open his eyes to look at her, her blue-grey irises shining like silver under the sheen of tears.
“Not really,” he smirked. “Don’t really have anything here either.”
“Will you be okay if I run to the store?” she asked, voice soft but worry threaded through her tone.
He smiled slowly at her, eyes dancing between hers. “Yea, I’ll be fine baby girl.”
She grinned, hand coming up to cup his jaw when he kissed the tip of her nose.
“Where’s your wallet?”
“On my dresser,” he said, finally pulling himself back from the protective circle of her arms, letting her get up to go down the hall and retrieve it.
“Thanks,” he said softly as she opened the door to leave.
“You don’t need to thank me for a damn thing Jensen,” she smiled, keys to his truck jingling around her fingers. “I’ll be right back.”
She pulled out a two pack of thick cut beautifully marbled steak. Plastic wrap catching against the grocery bag as she placed it down next to the sink. Canister of seasoning shaking as she took it out of the bag and sat it down next to the meat.
Jensen grinned, pulling out a box of macaroni and cheese, hard pasta rattling around inside and shot her a look.
He grabbed the smaller bag on the counter, opaque white instead of the recycled tan of the grocery store bags and pulled out a handful of DVDs.
“’The Longest Yard’?” he asked, holding up the first DVD, arching his brow at her as she cut open the plastic on the steak.
“Hell yea,” she grinned. “Good music, football, prison inmates, violence, all wrapped up with a nice little moral at the end of the story.”
“And what would that be?” he grinned.
Her mouth opened and she paused. “I don’t remember,” she laughed, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.”
He laughed.
“So, steaks and a football players in prison movie?”
She looked up from where she was seasoning the steaks.
“Well…” she paused, “I could go back and get a tub of Haagen-Dazs and ‘The Notebook’ if you want. But I figured, you know, since you have testicles and everything, that bloody meat and some violence was more appropriate.”
He smirked, looking away for a minute.
“Hell, even I don’t do chick flicks and ice cream,” she winked, smiling at him when he grinned back.
“Thanks,” he said softly, stepping forward to kiss her forehead.
She jabbed her elbow into his stomach playfully. “What did I tell you about thanking me?” she asked, the spark in her eyes silently telling him ‘you’re welcome.’
“Alright,” he mumbled, slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Fire up the grill for me?” she asked.
“Sure,” he grinned, pulling her into a one armed hug to kiss her temple before walking out to the patio.
Jensen groaned, stretched out of the couch with Tareena curled up next to him, empty plates smeared with grease and cheese pushed off to the side of the coffee table, a couple of half drunk beers long gone warm sitting next to them.
Her hand idly swept back and forth across his chest and his eyes closed, muscles relaxing.
“Can I kill her?” she asked softly, glancing up to see him open his eyes to look at her.
“No,” he laughed softly.
“Please?”
He rolled his eyes, “I might be loaded but I don’t have enough to get you out of a murder rap.”
“Damnit,” she said, grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
He chuckled, vibration in his chest rumbling straight into her.
“You know I would if you asked me?” she said, looking back up at him.
“Don’t doubt it,” he grinned, squeezing her shoulder, cheek resting against her hair.
“I just…” he started to say, mouth closing as he heaved a sigh. “I’m just sick of being alone,” he said softly. “I can count the number of serious relationships I’ve had on one hand.”
Tareena planted her hand on his chest and pushed herself up to look at him.
“Shut up.”
“What?” he asked, pushing himself up with his elbows.
“I don’t wanna hear that crap from you. If there’s anybody on this godforsaken planet that’s gonna end up with somebody it’s you.”
He rolled his eyes, throwing one arm behind his head.
“Then why am I still alone?” he asked. “I thought...” he sighed again. “I thought she might have been it, ya know?” he said quietly.
“She’s a bitch,” she said, holding her hand up when Jensen’s eyes shot to her, ready to say something back. “But you loved her…and if she was stupid enough to walk away from that, then she doesn’t deserve you.
“But I’m not gonna sit here and tell you to get over it ‘cause she’s not worth it. Bottom line is you loved her, maybe still do and I’m not about to belittle that,” she said, watching as he swallowed hard.
“All my crazy fangirlness aside,” she said, grinning when he smirked at her, “You’re one of the greatest guys I know,” she said softly. “And the only reason I say ‘one of’ is ‘cause my Dad’s pretty high up there too,” she smiled sadly.
Jensen’s lips tightened to a line and he swallowed again at the honestly in her eyes.
“Trust me, you’ll find somebody,” she said softly.
He forced a smirk, staring at their hands as he threaded his fingers back with hers.
“Thanks babe.”
“No problem,” she grinned.
His hand automatically tightened around hers when he felt her shift to get up.
“The movie’s over,” she grinned, laughing at him when he grunted and let her go.
She rolled off the couch, landing on her knees on the carpet before getting up to switch DVDs, popping in ‘The Blue Collar Comedy Tour,’ and taking their plates to the sink, running water over them before coming back to the couch.
Jensen had turned on his side, back against the back of the couch, cushions scrunched under his head.
She smirked at him, dropping her knee into the cushion and lying down beside him, back pressed against his chest, fingers linking with his when he draped his arm over her chest.
She felt him bury his nose against her neck about an hour later and squeezed his hand.
“Why don’t you head to bed babe?” she asked softly, grabbing the remote and turning down the volume on the TV.
“Will you stay?” he said quietly, causing her to turn to look at him.
“I just…I kinda don’t wanna be alone,” he mumbled.
“Well I didn’t get a hotel room, so yea, I was kinda planning on staying,” she said, voice soft as she grinned at him.
He smirked but tightened his arm around her waist.
“I meant stay,” he whispered, meeting her eyes again.
She stared at him a moment, the light from the TV dancing across his face, throwing shadows and soft blue light over the room.
“Sure,” she whispered, fingers squeezing in his.
He smiled softly, shifting against her so his head rested in the crook of her neck and her stomach seized, heart thudding painfully in her chest, wishing against anything that she could just see that bitch that did this to him right now just to throw a fist in her face.
Her hand came up, fingers dancing through his hair and he sighed against her.
She smiled, reaching up to slip his glasses off, smirking at him when he opened his eyes to smile at her.
Chapter Notes:
The Longest Yard rocks...the end. It might be blashphemy but I've never actually seen the original *hides* but I adore the remake
And steaks are meant to be cooked on the grill, no where else! *proudly holds up her grill tongs!*
Blue Collar Comedy Tour...the trilogy, dude, if you haven't seen them...GO RENT THEM...NOW!!! Ron White and Big Engvall are TEH SHIT
Previous: Chapter Six | Next: Chapter Eight